Reference card · All five blocks · SEA Bridge Institute of Entrepreneurship
Block A — Engagement Start
Understand the brief
☐ Confirm who the client is and who the customer is — written down explicitly
Confusion between client and customer is the most common early mistake
☐ Confirm the expansion question in one sentence — specific enough to be wrong
Vague brief = vague research. Write it before opening any sources.
☐ Confirm target market — one market at a time
☐ Read all existing client materials before first meeting
Set up working documents
☐ Create project folder: Research / Interviews / Canvas / Memos
☐ Open Market Expansion Canvas — fill in client name and target market on day one
☐ Set up GTM-RL template — score at end of Block B
☐ Set up interview log — one row per planned interview
Confirm your role
☐ You are here to find what is true, not confirm what the client hopes is true
☐ Your cultural context is a professional input — your market reading is part of the deliverable
☐ Flag anything in Canvas or GTM-RL that does not fit — that feedback improves the tools
Block B — Pre-Meeting Research and Diagnostic
Pre-meeting research (solo, before first client session)
☐ Searched client on: website, LinkedIn, news coverage, partner mentions
☐ Listed two to three things the client has genuinely built well — with evidence
These are your opening talking points in the meeting
☐ Identified top two to three competitors or comparable organizations
☐ Noted at least one external tailwind in the client’s favor
Market growth, policy support, cultural timing, demographic shift
☐ Noted gaps visible externally — markets not entered, areas competitors have moved on
☐ Run a quick Porter’s Five Forces read on the target market
Competitive rivalry, threat of substitutes, buyer power, supplier power, new entrants. 10 minutes.
☐ Written one-paragraph summary of client’s current position
FISHE × CSTO diagnostic
☐ Completed FISHE × CSTO map — all five capitals assessed for target market
☐ Applied Assets × Capability rule — not just what they own, but what they can deploy
☐ Identified the bottleneck capital — lowest score = overall readiness level
☐ Completed initial GTM-RL scores — honest, not aspirational
1–9 per capital for the specific target market
First client meeting preparation
☐ Question list prepared — strengths first, gaps second, hypotheses third
☐ Documents or contacts needed from client listed explicitly
☐ Canvas sections 0 and 1 drafted — ready to update during the meeting
Block C — Market Research
Six research questions (all must be answered with cited sources)
☐ Market size in USD with source year — two independent sources
If sources conflict, note both and explain why
☐ Key growth drivers — minimum two, with specific evidence
☐ Top three to five competitors named with business model and gap identified
☐ Customer behavior confirmed — discovery channel, payment method, decision factors
☐ Regulatory requirements named — relevant laws, licensing, content restrictions
☐ Country-of-origin signal confirmed — how the market perceives the client’s home country
Digital signals
☐ Google Trends run for category keywords — in local language, not English only
☐ eCommerce bestseller scan completed for category in target market
Sort by best selling. Note price range, top sellers, review counts.
☐ Social community benchmark — largest community in category, follower count and engagement rate
☐ LinkedIn competitive scan — headcount trend and open roles for top two competitors in target market
Documentation standard
☐ Every claim has: organization name, report title, year, and URL
☐ Data older than three years flagged explicitly
☐ Free-tier data limitations disclosed where relevant
☐ "What research could not answer" paragraph written — these become Block D interview questions
Block D — Interviews and Synthesis
Interview planning
☐ Interview plan covers all three tiers — partners, experts, and the client’s actual customers
☐ End users included — not just institutional buyers
For education engagements: students, not just administrators
☐ Minimum 10 interviews planned across three tiers
☐ Outreach sequence: warm introductions first, referral chain, then cold outreach
☐ Interview guide built from Block C research gaps — each question traces to an unverified hypothesis
During and after each interview
☐ Insight card completed within 24 hours
☐ Cultural context field completed on every card — not left blank
☐ Each key insight written as one complete sentence with evidence
[Finding] because [evidence] — not a quote, not a vague observation
☐ Hypothesis update field completed — which Block C assumption did this confirm, contradict, or complicate?
Synthesis
☐ All insight cards reviewed together — affinity mapping completed
☐ Signal strength counted per theme — number of interviews that contributed
☐ Contradictions identified and noted as findings, not problems to resolve
☐ Three to five synthesis conclusions written in the specified format
☐ Cultural context section written as a standalone section in the synthesis memo
Block E — Recommendation and Final Package
Recommendation quality
☐ Applied the So What test to every section — each finding connects to a decision
☐ Recommendation states a position
If it contains "explore," rewrite it. That is not a recommendation.
☐ Three scenarios represent genuinely different strategic paths
Each names the single assumption that drives it
☐ Every recommended action tagged to an A–E phase
☐ Cultural context section written — named, evidence-based, specific to target market
Market Insights Report
☐ All six sections present and complete
☐ Every claim cited: organization, title, year, URL
☐ Section 6 ("What research could not verify") present — makes the report honest
☐ Cultural context embedded in Section 3
6-Page Concept Memo
☐ Executive summary leads with the recommendation — conclusion first
☐ Six sections present, all within length guidelines
☐ Cultural context is Section 6 — named and specific
☐ Reads clearly to someone who did not do the research
Appendix
☐ All insight cards included — one per interview, all fields completed
☐ FISHE × CSTO map included
☐ Market Expansion Canvas — all sections completed
☐ GTM-RL — initial and updated scores both present, bottleneck identified
How to use this checklist
Use it before submitting each block deliverable and before the final package. Items you cannot tick are research gaps or open questions — flag them explicitly rather than leaving them blank. An honest incomplete is more useful than a checked item backed by no evidence.
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